[Applause] let's everybody stand and glorify the Lord could we all over this building would you lift him up Oh magnify the Lord with me let us exalt his name together he is high and lifted up hallelujah glory to God glory to God glory to God glory to God glory to God he deserves all of our praise thank you Jesus thank you Jesus thank you Jesus what a joy it is to be in the house of the Lord on this beautiful Sunday morning enjoyed the good weather this week thank God for better weather at least and appreciate God's presence in our service this Sunday morning can you say Amen I I have to appreciate folks that are faithful to the house of the Lord every now and then I I just want to stop and say thank you for your faithfulness thank you for coming to church thank you for worshiping when you get here thank you for giving so we can have a church like this for all of you that work for the Lord that have found a place where you can serve the Lord thank you for your service to the kingdom of God we appreciate you so very very much and let the church say Amen anybody here feel like God's been good to you I know he has we are a fortunate very fortunate people today because of God's blessings to all of us amen the Easter carts our Easter invitation carts arrived this week they're absolutely beautiful and those will be available for you if not this morning tonight they may be available this morning I do know they just arrived and we would like you to start using them I think we ordered about 5000 of them so there should be enough for everybody to take eight or ten or a dozen or whatever you want and give them out now we're not asking you to just leave them on a table when you go eat that's not an invitation to church folks by all means don't leave a Bible World Church card in the bathroom stall it always blows my mind when I stop at a rest stop run to the restroom and there are tracks in the bathroom stall I got a wonder who are they for there's no church out in the middle of nowhere I don't live there and somebody think that's witnessing if you take one put it in one person's hand with a big smile on your face and say be my guest on Easter Sunday I invited a man this week that promised me he and his family would be with us on Easter Sunday I've already got at least that one family that's promised to come be with us I plan on getting a whole bunch more I hope you'll do the same thing we'll bring people with you on Easter Sunday it's always a great day it's a it's an epic day for Bible World Church there's no day of the year that we have more people in church last year we preach the gospel to two thousand eight hundred plus people in that one day and I thank the Lord for that opportunity this year it ought to be more than that at Bible World Church we don't give away bicycles and iPads and money and groceries and all that on Easter Sunday we have one goal that we've used for years that is our Easter Sunday goal you know what it is how many people can we preach the gospel to in one day that's what we're going to find out how many people can we preach the gospel to in one single day and so I hope that you will participate I hope you will be here by the way Easter Sunday is not a good vacation weekend if there is one weekend a year that ought to belong to God honey that's the one that's it right there it ought to belong to God it's not a let's go to the beach weekend it's not a let's have a party weekend it's not a let's get out of town for the weekend that weekend ought to belong to God amen I'm doing all this now we're about six seven weeks out for the next few weeks we'll get all excited and people that are way more diplomatic than me will get up here to encourage you to invite folks and bring folks and they'll they'll they'll do a better job than I'm doing I've got this little problem that's called pastor causes me to say things others won't say so six weeks in advance go on vacation the week before go on vacation the week after but I want to see your smiling face here with a guest on Easter Sunday a man elbow your neighbor and say he really is a pastor in praise go I'm from the old school folks I don't believe moms and dads are supposed to be their kids best friend I believe they're supposed to be their mom and dad I know you don't clap because y'all believe dr. Spock you don't believe the Bible and guess what when you hired me you hired me to get you and your family to heaven you didn't hire me to be your best friend amen is that all right if I do my job praise God hallelujah glory be to Jesus that's good preaching brother Cunningham the Bible said encourage yourself in the Lord hallelujah I want to see how many people this great church can preach the gospel to and one Sunday now we're going to have to do better this year than we've been doing you say hold on preacher you just said we had 2800 well guess what we're preaching the gospel to nearly 2,000 people today today we'll have about 950 in our little Network we got going on we'll have about 950 different people in church today and are you ready for this we just got our February numbers from box cast that's the people that we hire out our live stream to and last month we averaged 946 people per service watching us online nine hundred and now technically that's nine hundred and forty six computers is what they count we don't know how many different people are watching each computer it might be one might be two could even be more than that but we're already preaching the gospel to about 2,000 people on Sunday I think it's going to be exciting if we go over 3,000 people this year on Easter Sunday wouldn't that be amazing so I'm asking you to help me and let's start now let's start lining folks up early to be with us on Easter Sunday is a lot of things going on that Sunday we have children's service we have a real early morning service for all you early birds we've got church about all day long in different locations around Tidewater we've got teams that are going out to different places to provide service on Easter Sunday to different like senior citizens centers and things like that they'll be going to some of those types of places you can be a part of that if you would like to be we'd like for you to be a part of that we will also be having in the second service here on Sunday there will be special children's activities next door I think it culminates with an Easter egg hunt outside for the kids afterwards it's going to be a great day all the way around and again I hope you'll be a part of it I hope all of you will be a part of what's happening on that day can you say Amen everybody said amen turn to your neighbor and say the word shame say it again to someone else one more person look at them and say the word shame I'm going to preach to you today maybe that's the wrong words to use maybe I'm going to teach a Bible study today maybe it'll be more a Bible study than a sermon but I'm going to talk about shame today I'm talking about it in connection with the messages I've been bringing to you on value I'm just going to call the title of this Bible study or message shame but I could have easily called it the number one enemy of value the number-one enemy of you and I feeling like we have value is shame whether its shame for something I've done in my past that I'm ashamed of or its shame because of something that was done to me that I don't want anybody to know of and I'm ashamed of it even though I had nothing to do with it [Music] whichever way shame comes to an individual shame is paralyzing and shame absolutely destroys value are you ready get your Bibles you may be seated I'm going to read a lot of verses today let's go to Genesis chapter 3 and I'm going to begin reading in verse number one I'd like everybody to keep your Bibles in whatever form you have a Bible electronic paper whatever it is keep your Bibles open because we're going to read a lot of verses today and if you didn't bring a Bible in any form then pay close attention to the screen all of our verses will be up on the screen for you to follow along let's read Genesis chapter 3 starting in verse number 1 the Bible said now the serpent everybody say the devil was more subtle than any beast of the field which the Lord God had made and he said unto the woman yea hath God said ye shall not eat of every tree of the garden and the woman said unto the serpent we may eat of the fruit of the trees of the garden but of the fruit of the tree which is in the midst of the garden God hath said ye shall not eat of it neither shall ye touch it lest you die verse 4 and the serpent said unto the woman ye shall not surely die first time the word of god is contradicted in your Bible you shall not surely die verse 5 for God doth know that in the day ye eat thereof then your eyes shall be opened and ye shall be as God's knowing good and evil and when the woman saw that the tree was good for food and that it was pleasant to the eyes and a tree to be desired to make one wise she took of the fruit thereof and did eat and gave also unto her husband with her and he did eat verse 7 and the eyes of them both were opened and they knew that they were naked the eyes of them both were opened and they knew that they were naked and they sewed fig leaves together and made themselves aprons and they heard the voice of the Lord God walking in the garden in the cool of the day and Adam and his wife hid themselves from the presence of the Lord amongst the trees of the garden the Lord called unto Adam and said unto Him where art thou and he Adam said I heard thy voice God in the garden and I was afraid because I was naked and I hid myself verse 11 and he said who told thee that thou wast naked hast thou eaten of the tree where have I commanded thee that thou should us not eat as you well know Genesis chapter 3 is the story of Adam and Eve it's the story of their time in the Garden of Eden it's the story of it's one single commandment to mankind it's the story of the fall of mankind in the eleven verses I just read to you there are a number of first in those 11 verses not just a first for the Bible but a first in the human race there's a number of them Genesis 3 also records the first example of shame in human history it records the introduction of shame into the life and the thinking of humanity God told Adam and Eve that they could partake of everything that was in the garden every animal every tree everything in the garden was there but that there's but there was one tree God said in the midst of the garden and of that one single tree you can't partake because that tree is the tree of the knowledge of good and of evil and the day that you eat of that tree evil is going to be introduced to you introduced in you it's a sense if you please a sin if you please a knowledge if you please an understanding if you please that I didn't put in you at creation but if you disobey me you're going to introduce it to yourself y'all still with me the Bible said that Eve was beguiled by the serpent now it takes a long time like 4000 years before the Apostle Paul finally addresses what is still a misnomer in the church today I can't tell you how many wrong sermons I've listened to about the woman being the weaker vessel because she's the one that committed sin in the garden first go back and read what Paul says about it sorry gents Paul said Eve was beguiled by the serpent but Adam's sin willfully Eve was deceived lied to the Bible itself says that the serpent was more beguiling it was more deceptive it was it was more subtle than all the other creatures that God had created we now know that the serpent was Satan if you please manifest as a serpent and Eve had a beguiling experience with the serpent Adam just eat of the tree without the Serpent's involvement the Bible said Eve did eat of the tree and then Adam sinned wilfully the moment in an amazing house in works it wasn't the next day it wasn't the next week it wasn't the next month it wasn't the next year but the moment the moment that they eat of the tree that God commanded them not to eat of the moment they disobeyed the command of God I know we have Ten Commandments today and yet in the Bible there's probably two or three thousand total Commandments in the whole Word of God there's a lot of Commandments a lot of thou shalt and thou shalt not in the Bible we a lot of Commandments we live by today they had won it in an amazing that humanity can't even make it with only one commandment just one I got news for you folks if we could go back to heaven just one commandment I would personally put up a barbed-wire fence around that tree just let's just fix this right so it just doesn't never become a problem I passed her folks that had pole vote that fence hello that's just human nature but the moment they disobeyed the commandment the one commandment of God Bible said their eyes were opened the moment they disobeyed God sin fell on them the weight of sin the curse of sin the pressure of sin the pressure of disobedience had come rushing in like floodwaters and all of a sudden shame with that sin came shame and shame flooded their soul they immediately the Bible said hid from each other and hid from God and while in hiding they made for themselves clothing made out of fig leaves aprons if you please made out of fig leaves their attempt was to cover up sin the Bible would have us to think to know that they didn't even know what naked was hello it was their feeble attempt at hiding their sin y'all still with me then the Bible said when God came walking in the garden in the cool of the day he calls for them here's another first it's God's first recorded question in the whole Bible Adam where art thou I don't think it's insignificant that the first recorded question of God is where art thou it's God looking for lost man first question in the Bible it's God looking for someone that's messed up but God didn't need to find them to know they had messed up your you know that right God didn't have to wait till they came out with fig leaves on to know they were trying to cover their sin God didn't ask Adam where art thou because he didn't know where they were because he didn't know they were trying to hide from him or cover their sin it was God letting them know hey I still came today I'm still here to go for a walk with you I'm still looking for you I still want to commune with you Adam we're yet somebody City man and the Bible tells us that when God says where art thou Adam Adam said God we saw that we were naked and so we went and hid ourselves can I tell you it was the first attempt by man to avoid God hello there effort to hide from God was futile because as you and I clearly know today it is impossible to hide from God there's no place you can go David committed sin with Bathsheba Bathsheba Uriah's wife David had Uriah put on the front frontline where he knew he would be killed and really it made David a murderer and David had committed several sins and and it was that time in David's life around the 51st psalm that David said if I descend into hell thou art there if I make my way into the heavens thou art there there's no place he said I can go where you're not there where your presence isn't there it is futile to try to find a hiding place where you can avoid God when Adam and he finally stuck their heads up out of the bushes if you please and Adam said Lord we saw that we were naked and so we hid ourselves and God asked who told thee that thou was naked hast thou eaten of the tree whereof I commanded thee that thou should us not eat now did God ask that because he didn't know the answer or was God setting up the first repentance was God swinging the door wide open for them to say God we messed up and we're sorry about that somebody said Amen it's in this moment that shame is manifest shame is introduced shame becomes a part of humanity from that very moment humanity was first introduced to shame and can I tell you from then till now shame has taken a terrible toll on humanity I'm going to make a statement you may or may not agree with but hear me when I tell you that shame throughout time from Genesis 3 till now has perhaps destroyed more lives than all other sins combined hello I want to be bold enough to tell you this morning in this Bible study slash sermon an extension of my messages on value that it's not adultery that destroys a life it's not the stealing that destroys a life it's not the lying that ends up destroying a life you can repent of all of that stuff but it's when you allow that thing to bring shame into your life and that shame becomes attached to you and you think I can't get rid of it I can't shake it off I can't walk away from it it's the shame that ultimately tells you say man somebody what is shame I guess we should define it according to word book dictionary shame is defined as number 1 a painful emotion resulting from an awareness of inadequacy or guilt definition number to a state of dishonor definition number 3 an unfortunate development dr. c samuel storms a man i've read a number of times and i like what i read describes shame this way he said shame is the painful emotion that is caused by a consciousness of guilt a failure of impropriety that often results in the paralyzing conviction / belief that one is worthless of no value to others and no value to god that they are unacceptable and altogether deserving of the disdain and rejection they are receiving did you all hear all that as we see the story of Adam and Eve shame causes people to do all sorts of things they had not previously done shame caused Adam and Eve to commit sins that were yet unrecorded in human history at least five of them that I've identified number one they hid from God no one had ever hid from God before then number two they lied about their sin no one had ever lied or told a lie before and number three they attempted to cover up their disobedience no one had ever covered anything before number four they tried to blame others Adam how did you know you were naked the woman you made for me God turns they even said woman what have you done verse twelve woman what have you done and she said the serpent blame has entered in nobody has ever blamed anybody else for anything before Genesis three the fifth thing that I've noticed was their attempt to avoid to avoid God to miss their appointed time with God to avoid having a relationship a walk if you please with God in the cool of the day can I tell you that of all of the negative effects of shame the worst effect of shame must be the paralyzing effect of shame shame is a paralyzing effect first shame causes a sort of emotional paralysis I'm walking a fine line here today I'm wanting to introduce something to the church that I think we need to deal with and yet at the same time I'm wanting to help people here today who are living under the cloud of shame you might find yourself in this list I'm about to give of the emotional paralysis that is associated with shame number one the mind just doesn't work right once shame is attached our thinking gets foggy once shame is attached the one that is carrying around the shame almost immediately loses faith in themselves that loss of faith in self creates a very harsh self judgment people that judge themself harshly their mindset is I deserve whatever I get I deserve not to be loved I deserve to be punished another the paralyzing effects is that every decision one makes after shame is attached those decisions are filtered through the shame what do you mean by that preacher I mean they can't hardly decide to go meet somebody for dinner without thinking about trying to think the whole scenario out through if you please the shame that they're carrying around do I have a right to have a friend do I have a right to be in a relationship do I have a right to go to this fellowship do I have a right to go to church do I have a right to have anybody love me do I have a right to have anybody make me feel good about myself everything they do is filtered through the shame that they're carrying around and then paranoia sets in then they start believing everybody knows and they're all watching they're all looking at me don't Bob your head don't wave your hand don't move your lips but are you finding yourself in this list somewhere paranoia sets in and then the one carrying the shame eventually becomes critical of others that old saying of hurting people hurt people it's true hurting people hurt other people and so they become critical of others and that harsh criticism is simply saying you're no better than I am I don't feel good about me I'm gonna make sure you don't feel good about you hello it says something about human nature that we have all at one time or another in our life convinced ourselves that we can feel better about us by making someone else feel worse about them hello those of you that that's your type of counseling shame on you hello that's your idea of helping somebody is make them feel like a dog the one that is carrying the shame becomes overly critical which turns into blaming others because misery loves company the one carrying the shame tends to physically withdraw they withdrawal from people they withdraw from groups they withdraw from friends they withdraw from loved ones and eventually they withdrawal from God the second aspect of this paralysis that's associated with pain is a spiritual paralysis that when shame comes in and attaches itself to you prayer is almost always the first thing to go because you convince yourself how can horrible me talk to a holy God hello the second thing that goes after prayer is worship it's when you can come to church and sit there with your arms crossed while there's a great move of God you may be being beat to death in your heart and in your spirit you may be feeling like get up out of your seat worship God God's trying to bless me God's trying to touch me and we convinced ourselves I got a sitter like this because I'm not worthy to be in the presence of God shame has attached itself and spiritual paralysis is setting in shame hinders even destroys creativity people that are normally idea people people that are normally bubbly people that are normally a part of discussions and they contribute positively to discussions all of that dries up shame then kills our faith in God's goodness shame kills faith in the very goodness of God honey you need not ever forget that God is a good God [Applause] when shame kills faith in the goodness of God with that comes the destruction of the belief that God loves and forgives you have to switch there's a switch in your brain evidently where you quit believing God is good and you start believing God is harsh let me quit preaching to people and start preaching the church again for a moment those of you that present God as a harsh God don't know God those of you that think he's just a God of judgment and nothing else sure there's judgment that comes from God but understand that his judgment is always aimed at one purpose and that is restoration that is repentance and restoration think about Jonah God said go to Nineveh preach to him I'm going to destroy the city in three days Jonah goes the other way ends up in Tarsus instead of Nineveh God has him thrown overboard and a ship swallowed by a great fish three days he's in the belly of a fish the fish spits him up on sea he makes a three-day journey in one day running he gets into Nineveh he preaches three days God's going to destroy the city then what does Jonah do he didn't learn nothing three days in the belly of a fish he didn't learn squat he goes up on a hill sits down under a tree and says I want a front-row seat when God destroys that mess down there and then when they all start repenting he's sitting on the hill and he hears him repenting and he sees people making their way to the house of God and he sees everybody going into sackcloth and ashes and asking God to forgive him what does Jonah do he gets mad because his perception of God and godliness his judgment its fury you better be careful honey if God don't kill somebody when you wanting to how dare you get mad at God when his judgment isn't harsh enough now of course we're talking about on someone else you know what the worst sin anyone ever commits is its whatever I'm not doing hello whatever you're not doing if they're doing something different than you then bless god that's bad and deserves judgment and god I hope you'll smoke them teach them a big lesson if that's your concept of God I'm gonna tell you you don't know God I don't care how long you talk in tongues I don't care how holy you think you are I don't care how holy you dress I don't care how long your hair is I don't care how if you haven't had a drink or a drug in a dozen years I don't care if you don't understand that God is a good god that God is a God of mercy and God is a God of love and God is a God of restoration then you don't know God somebody said Amen say man you don't have to put down somebody that's living under shame they're taking care of that themselves shame destroys the belief that God loves me and that God will forgive me what they believe is is that God couldn't love somebody like me what they believe is not I did a bad thing that's what sin is folks a bad thing and this Pope it'll never make sin a good thing but they don't think I did a bad thing they think I'm bad and there's a difference hello hello the one living under the shadow of shame will begin to sabotage relationships and friendships because they don't think they deserve either the one living under the shadow of shame will avoid fellowship they'll avoid church events then they'll avoid church services and ultimately what is the plan of Satan they will avoid God because the shame that has attached itself to them is so heavy and so harsh and so ugly don't mistake shame for guilt guilt and shame are not the same thing as I told you guilt says I did something bad shame says I am bad guilt feels like something you wear I put on something I shouldn't have put on I feel bad while I've got it but there's the altar I'll just go lay it yeah and that's God to forgive me and walk away from it but shame can't do that shame isn't something we put on it's like shame is welded to you it's like it becomes part of you it's like I can't get rid of it on my own the guilt I can leave at the altar but the shame I get up from the altar and tonight I feel as bad as I did this morning and tomorrow I feel bad again because shame has attached itself it has become part of me does anybody understand yet why I say shame is the number one enemy of value there is no way for you or I to ever feel like we have value while carrying around shame my preacher you don't know what I did I don't but he does and he's still knocking at the door creature you don't know how many times I've got up and fell back down again how many times I've came to that altar and told God I'll never do it again and within a week I've already done it again you don't know preacher how I feel I know I don't know but the God who knows everything you can't hide from him he knows where you're at he knows spiritually you're naked he knows you're trying to cover your sin and he's still calling for you where are you I'll say something you've never heard a preacher say in the pulpit when you're comparing guilt to shame guilts good I don't blame nobody for saying a man and not saying amen to that guilts good you know why guilts good because guilt drives us to repentance hold on and shame makes you run from the answer it makes you want to find an altar and shame makes you want to hide from God guilt makes you want to say God I'm sorry and shame makes you say God I'm not wearing them you know quit talking me I'm a pastor I'm a shepherd more than I have anything else on this earth it's the first thing I am every day and in everything I think and can I tell you I'm tired of losing people to shame I'm tired of people in your family being lost and I'm tired of people and that are friends of ours being lost and it's not that they did anything worse than anybody else but they allowed shame to come in and shame welded itself to them and they don't know how to take it off they don't know how to fix it and you're not going to like what I'm fixing to say and we're not helping hello we're it's amazing that some people have to be saved in spite of us not because of us hello it's a shame that we have become so pharisee achill that we not only think it's our right we think it's our obligation to create hurdles and roadblocks between people getting back to God and becoming a great Christian again in the last seven days I've had more than one person tell me brother Cunningham so-and-so prayed through and I told them and here it goes dah dah dah dah dah dah dah I didn't do it but I want to ask did I get fired and you voted in as pastor and I'm just not aware of it did God issue a new edict and said throw the old Bible away and let you write a new one I got a smart aleck mind who died and made you God oh I'm just trying to help no you're not no you're not you know what most people do because it was hard for them to get right with God and you hear me when you're coming out of sin and you've been engulfed by shame it is hard to fight your way toward God it didn't an easy thing to do God told Adam and Eve you're going to be saved he said you're going to be saved read your Bible but you're going to be saved by the sweat of your brow honey you're going to have to work at it you're going to have to till the soil there's going to be thorns and thistles and all kind of mess you're going to be saved but it's going to be a job and some of us because it was a job to get here we think it's our job to make it a bigger job for others turn your neighbor and even if you got a lie to say it turn your neighbor say I love my pastor could I encourage somebody today that maybe is feeling guilty over something you've done wrong don't sit there in the seat and not worship don't go a week without praying don't let your heart become heart don't open yourself up to shame because guilt eventually becomes shame and if you think it's hard to overcome guilt it's nearly impossible to overcome shame you got to fight your way back once shames got ahold of you if you're sitting there feeling guilty you ought to run to this altar today and you ought not care who sees you do it you ought not care what anybody thinks about it Wow God still knocking while God still saying where art thou Adam while God still looking for me Wow God still reaching for me while God still loves me I'm gonna respond I'm gonna answer I'm gonna give in somebody said he man I will be the first to say and in saying that I apologize to this church that shame is not talked about enough in this church here's the problem that when shame is not discussed when plans and procedures are not put in place for addressing people living under the shadow of shame and remember some people are living under just as real shame because of what was done to them nothing they did themselves hello and when shame is not dealt with and it becomes paralyzing and it destroys it destroys lives when all we care about come on back tonight and we'll do it but when all we care about is the music team be poppin and us doing the two-step and walking out of here feelin mighty fine when that's all we care about we have lost our perspective of what an apostolic church is supposed to be the church is likened unto a ship of Zion Church is likened in the Bible to a City of Refuge the church is likened in the Bible as being a high mountain place of protection but in 2019 I like to liken the church to a hospital because if we're nothing else we ought to be a spiritual hospital in Tidewater Virginia can I tell you that the church exists first for the hurting this isn't your Country Club where you can come and show off your goods this isn't the country dancing saloon where you can come and feel good and enjoy and have a party too many of us have the wrong concept well it's Sunday I better go to church I wonder how many of us actually thought this morning is there going to be anybody there today I can help who's going to be there today that needs my prayer who can I put my arm around their shoulder say hey bow I've been thinking about you been praying for you hey says once you know I love you and you mean something to me into this church and it's gonna actually did anybody have a thought like that even go through your mind when the preacher preaches in such a way that it's as quiet as it is right now I got a feeling there's more folks thinking how long is he gonna go then when we're jumping and screaming and hollering and waving and stomping licking the paint off the ceiling like us a fast Alex do when we going to have real church preacher honey this is the real church can I tell you that this should be the place where people find healing and freedom from shame it ought to happen in this house oh we really believe blind eyes how to be open here and they have been and lame people out of walk here and they have and cancer ought to be eradicated here and it has been and I agree with all of that but can I tell you you'll never see a greater miracle in your life than somebody whose shame has been welded to them and they can't get rid of it on their own but while they're in here while they're feeling God while they're feeling your love while they're feeling our forgiveness that shame lifts off of them there is no greater miracle I don't mean to be mean but I mean to be missing I mean to be understood not misunderstood so I'm going to be clear if all you've got us a complaint for somebody else stay away from me oh you think I'm joking don't you I put the sound booth on a 10 foot rule y'all don't know what that is we put up new lights we put up new projector we got all new instruments they want now new drums they want new this they want new that I brought them all in the office I said y'all's on the ten-foot rule what's that mean pastor you don't come within 10 foot of me until I tell you you can just stay back I don't want to hear from you I don't want to talk to you I don't want to be asked for one more thing right now you're on the 10 foot rule and I Got News for you all you can do is criticize and tear down and find fault and be ugly you're on the ten-foot rule I don't have time for you I don't want to talk to you I don't care what your opinion is I don't care what you know that I don't know the only place in the Bible God ever killed anybody was for lying to the preacher and when you come and say well I just want to make sure you know everything you're lying through your teeth I just want you to know preacher I found out because I went and asked him and told him I was praying for you lied through your teeth somebody walks up to you and says if you'll tell me what's wrong I'll pray with you about it and you tell him you are dumber than a box of rocks it's in the Catholic Church we don't tell people our problems you can go right straight to God you can tell him all about it and he's the only one that can do anything about it say Amen or oh me I'm telling you that Bible world church should be the place where people find healing and people find freedom from shame if you don't agree with that statement then you don't know your Bible or God hello this ought to be a hospital a spiritual hospital it ought to be a place of healing Isaiah 1429 said he giveth power to the faint and to them that have no might he increases strength Isaiah 42 and 3 said a bruised Reed shall he not break and a smoking flax shall he not quench Isaiah 53 and 5 said he was wounded for our transgressions we believe that he was bruised for our iniquities we believe that but do we believe the name the chastisement of our peace was upon him and with His stripes we are healed [Applause] Isaiah 61 and 6 said the Spirit of the Lord God is upon me because the LORD hath anointed me to preach good tidings unto the meat here it is he has sent me to bind up the brokenhearted to proclaim Liberty to the captives of shame and the opening of the prison doors to them that are bound do you know your Bible do you know your God do you know what he's all about do you know what God wants this church to be doing return to you afraid you're opening the door to sin you don't have to open the door to sin the only people in here that won't admit to sin are the hypocrites but that sink in just for a second again do you know the book because the book said all have sinned and come short of the glory of God the book said if we say we have no sin we make God a liar and the truth is not in us but I'm going to go back to what I said a while ago you don't think what you're doing is a sin you just think what everybody else is doing is a sin you really do believe in the understanding and mercy and forgiveness of God when it comes to you I'm today trying to tell us we've got to step across the line and extend that to others say Amen somebody Psalm 34 and 18 said the Lord is nine to them that are of a broken heart the Lord is nine to them that are of a broken heart and save a--the such as be of a contrite or broken spirit folks do you hear what the Bible says Psalm 147 and three said he healeth the broken in heart and bind it up their wounds Hebrews 12:12 said wherefore lift up the hands which hang down and the feeble knees verse thirteen and make straight paths for your feet less that which is lame be turned out of the way but let it rather be healed romans 8 and 1 there is therefore now no shame in that what self condemnation is a shame there is therefore now no shame no self condemnation to them which are in Christ Jesus who walk not after the flesh but after the spirit I'm appealing to somebody here right now don't walk out of here like you came in it don't matter whether there's something back there that is causing you shame done to you or done by you it really don't matter this is the place to get things right this is the place to get rid of the condemnation this is the place to let God heal you to let God do the surgery and remove that out of you and away from you forever everybody bow your heads for a moment the Holy Ghost is here right now the Holy Ghost is here right now this moment he'll almost shake Allah behind I grab somebody's hand and just start praying in the Holy Ghost will you just it don't matter who's beside you just reach over and grab somebody's hand and start praying in the Holy Ghost start praying in the Holy Ghost Oh cup oh oh oh God [Music] while you're feeling in this house is the holy presence of the Lord what we're feeling is a visitation of the Holy Ghost everybody stand with me I'm going to give you directions and then we're going to open the altar I can't speak for all churches but let me address this church that the Bible says plainly in Hebrews 13:7 and 17 that I will stand before God and give an account for some day this apostolic church it's the only one I can speak to or for this apostolic church must deliberately and aggressively wage war with and overcome shame yes after stuff you talk to you about five steps while you're standing it'll take me about three minutes to do it and then we're going to come to the older how do we wage war with and overcome shame five steps number one we must address shame needs to be addressed in services like this I'm apologizing to you that this is the first time in my 42 years of preaching I've preached thousands of messages that computer right there on the podium probably has three thousand thirty five hundred messages stored in it I've never preached on shame before today and I apologize for that I'm sorry about that we have to address shame we have to address shame in our breakout groups we need to address shame in our prayer groups we need to address shame among our ladies groups and our men's groups and our youth groups because I promise you there is no segment of our church that doesn't have people in it that are fighting every day of their life with shame they're living under shame we've got to address it we've got to speak to it we've got to work at understanding it we've got to work at understanding how to help people work through shame I believe that the church that allows shame to grow is the church that refuses to talk about it when we refuse to talk about it we're allowing it we're allowing it to grow forgive me for using the word but that's shameful for an Apostolic Church the second thing we need to do is we must seek to understand and minister faith in God's forgiveness of sin and shame we have to seek to understand and minister say Oh preacher that's your job no it's all of us as job to minister my job specifically is to pastor it's all of our jobs to be ministers and we have to figure out how to help people get through sin and shame and fight their way back to God can you say man a woman is taken in adultery big old bunch of burly Pharisees throw her down at the feet of Jesus Lord she was taken in the act of adultery that means she was committing the sin when they pulled her out of bed with some dude now my question is where's the dude you brought the woman where's the man hello Jesus gets down and writes in the sand a nobody knows what he wrote preachers can you know we take a lot of Liberty preaching brother Travis you can you can say he wrote anything you want to preach it might say God said Peggy ties that's what he wrote ins in you can make it say anything you want but whatever he said the Bible said from the oldest to the youngest they threw their rocks on the ground and they walked away but here's what's important are you listening Jesus looked at the woman and said neither do i condemn thee go and sin no more we've got to figure it out folks we've got to figure it out as a church from the first person that shakes hands with them with a person walking through the front doors to whoever they set by in here every one of us need to be ministers of the forgiveness of God number three we must preach teach and witness about God's immeasurable love for mankind Romans five and eight said but God commendeth his love toward us in that while we were yet sinners it's amazing how we can read a verse a thousand times and then all of a sudden boom something jumps out of it at verse hidden written to the church he's not writing that verse to good godly people he didn't write in that verse to Bible world God commendeth his love toward us and we think that us is BWA see but it's not in that while we were yet sinners that's a sinner verse folks he said I want you to know I love you I think the greatest paradox in the scripture I know there's folks here that are probably misunderstanding preachers getting soft on sin one of the greatest paradoxes in the scripture is handled on one hand God absolutely brutally vehemently hates sin how many know that about God God hates sin and yet at this here's the paradox at the same time on the other hand God passionately loves sinners only God can do both at the same time only God to keep them we gotta work at walking a line we think it's either/or but God hates sin all the while loving sinners while you were yet sinners my love belong to you we've got to be ambassadors of the love of God number four we must purpose and plan for awakening hurting people to the majestic and glorious truth that they are truly a child of God hold on they don't become a child of God when they are whole when they are sinless they don't become a child of God when they're perfect they need to understand that when they walk in here in whatever shape they are at that moment truly a child of God hello I got one sister here my brother may be watching in West Virginia my other sister may watch for the days over I don't like to say it in front of all three of them but they all know it's the truth I'm my mom's favorite kid but I promise you when I was about 13 to 16 I did everything the devil wanted me to do and some things that embarrassed him but I never ceased being mama's son we get it in our heads that because we messed up he give up on us because somebody messed up we get to thinking he's probably gave up on them David really messed up folks the song the guy that wrote the biggest book in your Bible messed up more than anybody else in the Bible go figure that one out but it was him that said goodness and mercy shall follow me all the days of my life we've got to figure out how to convince people that they are truly a child of God we just had a visitor here recently god bless his heart I hugged his neck I didn't know exactly how to address him I don't understand his life he was a woman that's now a man and he wanted to be baptized he came to the altar repetitive his sins and he or she wanted to be baptized now he's a he and we baptized him we didn't announce it back when it was happening because too many of you would have got mad about it you know what's bad about preaching 42 years you know when you strike pay dirt truly a child of God do I like that lifestyle no I don't do I agree with that decision no I don't but I probably do things y'all don't agree with hello number five and I'll close we must Minister the unbreakable promise of Christ that nothing can separate us from the love of God [Applause] this list is absolutely amazing and I am closing Romans 8:38 and 39 for I am persuaded that neither death nor life nor Angels nor principalities nor powers nor things present nor things to come nor height nor depth nor any other creature shall be able to separate us from the love of God which is in Christ Jesus our Lord do we believe the book come on somebody do we believe the book [Music] about six weeks ago God laid it on my heart to start preaching about value and how valuable we are to him I have enjoyed preaching these messages I've probably got more texts more emails more phone calls during the last three of those value messages than I have in 15 years but this week as I was thinking about this Sunday God dropped the word one word shame into my spirit I haven't been able to get away from it I can show you the notes that are in that computer right there I worked on this week to come today and preach to us about happiness and how that if we are if we understand that we're valuable to him and we understand we belong to him the Bible said happy are they people happy are thy servants it's going to be something that you know if there's anybody in the world that ought to enjoy the joy of the Lord it ought to be us [Applause] but when I was driving home last night and I had pretty much made my mind up this morning was going to be a happy sermon God spoke to me and said and I'm telling you God talks to me like this God said you're gonna do what you wonder you're gonna do what I want I can't get away from it I'm tired of it as a pastor understanding that the only reason John Doe or Jane Doe is not here is they couldn't shake the shame that had attached itself to their life and it convinced me that I think maybe I didn't do enough and that this church maybe didn't do enough to help them shake the shame I wonder if we get all purpose in our hearts today that we're gonna change our thinking if I'd preached a message about healing I'd ask you to start believing in healing if I'd preached a message about miracles I'd ask you to believe in miracles well I'm asking you today let's believe that we can do something about Shane let's believe that this church has the power to help men and women be free from the shame that destroys faith I want our ministers to come oh I wish I knew more to do I wish I knew more to say I heard a preacher give an altar call not too long ago it's not original with me I'm gonna copying today but I heard this preacher say to the audience if you're sick and tired of being sick and tired come on and let God touch you is there anybody here today that wants to leave different than you came anybody here today that you've been fighting with something you maybe you didn't do nothing wrong maybe it was wrong that was done to you young person don't you dare walk out of here today trying to carry that on your own mama don't you dare walk out of here thinking I'll just have a stiff upper lip and I'll just bear it I'll just live with it you don't have to live with it you can leave it at the altar in the hands of a loving God today come on somebody come on somebody somebody you love is up here praying hurry out of your seat and come and pray with them if there's somebody up here you love come and wrap your arm around their shoulder and pray with them today pray with them today [Music] hallelujah hallelujah hallelujah hallelujah [Music] I wonder if the mom and dad has a child a teenager that's up here praying I wonder if a brother or sisters got a sibling up here praying is there a man or woman that's got a spouse up here praying come on and help him help somebody understand that they're a child of the king help somebody understand that nothing can separate them from the love of God help somebody here understand that God loves them with an immeasurable love [Music] I hallelujah that's it come on come on let's deal with our shame this morning we've come to lay the shame down for God I'm taking it down I'm laying it down Lord Jesus oh god I'm gonna find repentance this morning I'm gonna find restoration through tears Lord hallelujah God here at the altar I find not a judge but I find someone who's ready to rescue me who's ready to restore me in the name of Jesus let God restore you this morning let God restore you this morning he hears your prayers of repentance God's not holding a grudge against you he's ready to deliver you from judgment condemnation there is therefore now no condemnation there is therefore now no self condemnation there is no shame hallelujah though your sins be read as scarlet I shall make them white as snow though your sins be red as scarlet he's gonna make them white as snow yes God well nothing could separate me from the love of Christ no guilt no shame no sin no mistake no failure no error hallelujah no bad choice no willful decision can separate me from the love of God hallelujah come on brother don't let shame paralyze you this morning God spoken to you clearly but to the altar run to the cross run into his arms hallelujah God's ready to meet you this morning he's ready to receive you he's ready to restore you hallelujah when our fall then shall I arise when our fall vid shall arise God gives you strength to stand hallelujah come on sister lay down that shame come on sister lay down that shame hallelujah God wants to use you he wants to use your life he wants to use your prayer he wants to use your worship you are qualified to stand in the presence of the Most High God yes hallelujah this restoration this morning this restoration this morning people are being restored people are being renewed people are laying down that guilt and shame they're letting down the heavy load of shame that they've been carrying around in Jesus lives where the presence of the Lord is their celebrity there's freedom from guilt in shame this morning there's liberty this morning there's Liberty for you to raise your hands there's Liberty for you to find your dance to find your shower hallelujah thank you Jesus thank you Jesus God raised up the prayer warriors raise up the worshipers Lord God raise up those with a shout with the dance hallelujah raise up the triumph and apostolic saint of god this morning God our hope and our trust is in you lord our hope and our trust is in you lord our bishops already said it find somebody and join hands with him throw your arm around somebody's shoulder this morning we're laying down our shame together we lay it out individually but corporately but my shame is laid down I pray for my brother I pray for my sister I pray for my friend I pray for my neighbor in Jesus name I'm the strength for my brother on the street for my sister Lord God hallelujah we were called together as a family God's forgiven us as a family in Jesus name God restores us as a family he calls us as a family in the name of Jesus God god bless these families who are gone god shame can even incapacitate a family but this morning our families are laying down shame our families are laying down guilt our families are layer down excuses for dog they're finding a reason for God to be forgiven and restored in the name of Jesus hallelujah hallelujah hallelujah come on let's in young people that seed young people that God renew and you a sense of prayer a sense of purpose a sense of worship God's got plans for you your past doesn't disrupt your future not with God hallelujah well yes God thank you lord thank you lord thank you Jesus God you are the God that makes all things new Lord you make all things new Lord you make all things new Lord you Pat you toss my past into the sea of forgetfulness God you tossed my past into the sea of forgetfulness Lord Jesus the handwriting of accusations that were against me you know them to the Cross God you nailed him to the cross god I thank you God I'm washed in the blood this morning I'm washed in the blood this morning I thank you Jesus I accept forgiveness God I'm unworthy but I think your Lord I'm unworthy but I thank you Lord Lord Jesus I thank you God you said whosoever will let him come whosoever will let him come you said whosoever will let him come God the doors are open this morning they're not locked the doors not locked this morning forgiveness is available for you oh yes Jesus thank you God God touch our families God touch our friends Lord hallelujah count let your head rustle oh no God speak to the hearts and the minds of my brothers and sisters this morning God let them sense a renewing needing them God God let them see the truth of your world God God let them pray the words of this message this morning from our Bishop God let him understand that shame is no longer binding them the shame is no longer hindering them Oh God God let their faith be built back up God God let their faith be built up in Jesus name God let them walk in faith let them pray and faith let up dancing singing faith God let them worship with faithful God in the name of Jesus you're the God who restores to the uttermost you're the God who restores to the uttermost lord I thank you Jesus I thank you lord [Music] come on brother Nessie and let go let God have his way let it go today let it go today hallelujah come on Let Go this morning Let Go this Morni hallelujah let God flow through you in Jesus name let God work this morning let God work this morning hallelujah [Music] hallelujah this is this let go let go sis hallelujah God loves you he's restoring you he's renewing in Jesus name a call a purpose of passion a vision a plan in Jesus name oh yes God I thank you for your love I thank you for your mercy god I thank you for your grace god I thank you for your truth god I think you forgiving my sins God and thank you for the sacrifice lord I thank you for the cross god I
